Portfolio Assets (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended			3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended								3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended																																												3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2012 Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2012 Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios	Mar. 31, 2012 Loan Portfolios	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios	Mar. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios	Dec. 31, 2010 Loan Portfolios	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Purchased performing loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Purchased performing loans	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Purchased performing loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Purchased performing loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios UBN	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios UBN	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Other	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Other	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Other	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Other	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Commercial real estate	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Commercial real estate	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Business assets	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Business assets	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Other commercial	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Other commercial	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Other commercial UBN	Mar. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Other commercial UBN	Dec. 31, 2010 Loan Portfolios Other commercial UBN	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Other commercial Other	Mar. 31, 2012 Loan Portfolios Other commercial Other	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Other commercial Other	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Other commercial Other	Mar. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Other commercial Other	Dec. 31, 2010 Loan Portfolios Other commercial Other	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Domestic Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Mar. 31, 2012 Loan Portfolios Domestic Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Domestic Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Domestic Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Mar. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Domestic Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Dec. 31, 2010 Loan Portfolios Domestic Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Domestic Business assets Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Mar. 31, 2012 Loan Portfolios Domestic Business assets Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Domestic Business assets Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Domestic Business assets Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Mar. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Domestic Business assets Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Dec. 31, 2010 Loan Portfolios Domestic Business assets Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Domestic Other commercial Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Mar. 31, 2012 Loan Portfolios Domestic Other commercial Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Domestic Other commercial Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Domestic Other commercial Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Mar. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Domestic Other commercial Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Dec. 31, 2010 Loan Portfolios Domestic Other commercial Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Latin America Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Latin America Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Mar. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Latin America Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Dec. 31, 2010 Loan Portfolios Latin America Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2012 Loan Portfolios Europe Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Dec. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Europe Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2011 Loan Portfolios Europe Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Mar. 31, 2011 Loan Portfolios Europe Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Dec. 31, 2010 Loan Portfolios Europe Commercial real estate Purchased Credit-Impaired Loans	Jun. 30, 2012 Real Estate Portfolios	Jun. 30, 2011 Real Estate Portfolios	Jun. 30, 2012 Real Estate Portfolios	Jun. 30, 2011 Real Estate Portfolios	Mar. 31, 2012 Real Estate Portfolios Special Situations Platform
Loan and real estate portfolios
Carrying Value										$ 68,970,000			$ 97,871,000																										$ 5,457,000		$ 5,904,000				$ 47,211,000		$ 73,154,000				$ 9,229,000		$ 10,742,000				$ 3,253,000		$ 3,754,000				$ 50,000				$ 3,820,000	$ 4,267,000
Allowance for Loan Losses	617,000		617,000		781,000					617,000	47,464,000	753,000	781,000	46,226,000	45,162,000																					46,233,000	45,084,000	43,291,000	20,000	5,000	5,000	12,000	49,000	49,000	415,000	510,000	553,000	546,000	422,000	354,000	170,000	200,000	185,000	183,000	244,000	252,000	12,000	38,000	38,000	99,000	90,000	90,000		339,000	287,000	260,000			52,000	50,000	866,000
Carrying Value, net	68,353,000		68,353,000		97,090,000					68,353,000			97,090,000																	50,616,000	76,918,000	9,059,000	10,557,000	8,678,000	9,615,000				5,437,000		5,899,000				46,796,000		72,601,000				9,059,000		10,557,000				3,241,000		3,716,000				50,000				3,820,000	4,267,000
Real estate held for sale, net	14,320,000		14,320,000		26,856,000
Total Portfolio Assets	82,673,000		82,673,000		123,946,000
Carrying value of real estate property																																																																												6,900,000
Income from Portfolio Assets	5,865,000	9,098,000	14,370,000	21,938,000												5,500,000	7,850,000	13,075,000	20,177,000	68,000	194,000	139,000	286,000	455,000	542,000	10,000	89,000	45,000	143,000																																											287,000	510,000	1,111,000	790,000
Changes in accretable yield
Beginning Balance						4,378,000	19,980,000	4,732,000	1,380,000
Accretion						(229,000)	(1,137,000)	(576,000)	(2,668,000)
Reclassification from nonaccretable difference						(2,103,000)	2,669,000	(2,085,000)	2,895,000
Disposals						(2,046,000)	(1,920,000)	(2,071,000)	(3,302,000)
Transfer from non-accrual							8,052,000		29,325,000
Translation adjustments							7,000		21,000
Ending Balance							27,651,000		27,651,000
Summary of acquisitions
Face value at acquisition						2,380,000	1,574,000	7,585,000	5,711,000
Cash flows expected to be collected at acquisition, net of adjustments						1,663,000	1,270,000	3,362,000	5,480,000
Basis in acquired loans at acquisition						1,314,000	976,000	1,696,000	4,080,000
Other disclosures
Aggregate carrying value of portfolio asset sold			18,700,000	39,900,000
Portfolio assets sold to a European securitization entity		21,900,000		21,900,000
Provisions for loan and impairment losses, net of recoveries, through a charge to income			900,000	600,000
Provision for loan losses, net of recoveries										500,000	300,000
Impairment charges																																																																										$ 400,000	$ 300,000